Robert Bigelow, founder and President of Bigelow Aerospace, believes that cost effective habitats and transportation systems are the key to America’s space explorations ambitions throughout the solar system.
In expansive documentation provided to NASA, Bigelow Aerospace presented a fleet of vehicles that could enable humanity’s ambitions.
In the first of two reports recently issued to NASA, but not made public, under an unfunded space act agreement (known as the “Gate 1 Report”), Bigelow indicated that he believes that “without cost effective human habitats, America’s human space exploration ambitions throughout our solar system isn’t going to happen.”
The Las Vegas based company, best known for their inflatable modules that have already enjoyed technology demonstrations in space, also believes the United States must have “cost effective transportation to low Earth orbit and everywhere else.” And that his company can help provide both of these elements.
Per the documentation, Bigelow Aerospace will be contracting for a family of transit tugs that it needs for its inflatable habitats, claiming NASA can take advantage of his tugs without having to pay any research and development for them, while adding “SpaceX, Boeing and the Sierra Nevada Corporation are all now working on the future of space transportation systems, not just for low Earth orbit, but in many instances for use beyond LEO as well.”